A behind-the-scenes clash among Fox News personalities is intensifying into a potential public confrontation as they vie for President Donald Trump’s ear on handling the threat from Iran. They are debating the best course of action to take.

Conservative radio icon and Fox News weekend host Mark Levin recently had a face-to-face meeting with President Trump, where he expressed concerns over Iran, reportedly suggesting that the nation was on the brink of acquiring a nuclear weapon.

For the meeting with Levin, Trump invited his friend and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, despite the fact that Levin had previously criticized Witkoff for his approach to negotiations with Iran and in the broader Middle East region.

Fox News Chairman Emeritus Rupert Murdoch has also complained about Witkoff’s diplomatic portfolio, according to Politico, as his New York tabloid paper has featured columns critical of the president’s envoy in the Middle East. 

A spokesperson for Fox News did not return a Daily Mail request for comment.  

Levin’s personal lobbying plus Murdoch’s attacks against Witkoff drew attention from former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who reacted to the news exclusively to the Daily Mail.

‘It’s amazing how much old people love wars,’ he said as the internal Fox drama started boiling over.

Levin and Carlson, who were once colleagues at Fox News, have been increasingly at odds over Witkoff and foreign policy.

Carlson, the top-rated Fox News host before he was fired in April 2023, remains vocally opposed to another war in the Middle East, repeatedly using his platform to advocate against a military strike in Iran.

Earlier, Carlson cautioned the Trump administration publicly on social media after he learned that Levin had visited the White House.

‘Mark Levin was at the White House today, lobbying for war with Iran,’ Carlson wrote in a social media post. 

‘To be clear, Levin has no plans to fight in this or any other war. He’s demanding that American troops do it.’

Carlson wrote that Levin’s ‘hyperventilating’ about Iran’s nuclear plans was a distraction from the dangers of sending American troops back into the Middle East.

‘A war with Iran would amount to a profound betrayal of his supporters. It would end his presidency. That may explain why so many of Trump’s enemies are advocating for it,’ he wrote.

Levin responded to the Politico report on his radio show Wednesday evening telling his listeners that he met with President Trump last week after he was invited to the White House.

‘He and I are very close friends,’ Levin said, adding that ‘the president knows exactly where I stand on Iran and he told me he knows exactly where I stand on Iran because he watches my shows on Fox.’

He described the Politico report as sourced by ‘a group of people who were pushing propaganda.’

‘What I am not doing and what I would not do to Donald Trump is lead a lobbying campaign of hawks,’ he said.

Levin accused an isolationist ‘cabal’ was leaking lies to Politico and making it more difficult for the president to negotiate with Iran.

He nicknamed Carlson as Chatsworth Osborne Jr., based on an old television character who wears a bowtie, and accused him of spreading ‘lies’ in Washington.

‘Levin won’t take your crap,’ he said, referring to Carlson. ‘He doesn’t like bullies, I’m more than happy to engage with you.’

He described the story as a ‘fraud’ and accused Carlson of ‘constantly lobbying the White House’ against war with Iran.  

‘I know who the leakers are,’ he said and added, ‘its the isolationists who are doing it, it’s them, they’re doing it, they’re trying to undermine the president and what they’re actually doing America is they’re making his job 1,000 times more difficult.’ 

Carlson also is a friend and supporter of Witkoff, hosting him on his popular independent show in March to praise his efforts on behalf of peace.

Witkoff recently criticized ‘the neocon element’ in the Republican Party, noting it ‘believes that war is the only way to solve things,’ sparking Levin’s anger who raged against the statement on social media.

‘By the way, neocon is a pejorative for Jew. Unbelievable,’ Levin wrote on X.

Carlson reacted by noting that he was personally familiar with Levin, but was astounded by what he had claimed.

‘I worked with Mark. I’ve always gotten along with Mark, always been nice to me. But yeah, he just accused Trump, the Trump administration of anti-Semitism for calling someone a neocon,” Carlson said, adding, ‘[H]e accused Steve Witkoff of anti-Semitism. And I just want to say, I think Steve Witkoff is, if there’s anyone who is, you know, has the hand of God on him, it seems to me. I sort of overstate it, but I feel that way.’

Carlson said that Witkoff was lobbying for peace, which was why he was under fire from Levin and others in the conservative movement.

‘We’ve reached peak crazy, I mean, I think Witkoff is Jewish, right?’ Carlson asked.

Levin fired back by calling Levin a ‘schmuck’ who ‘doesn’t call me’ and repeated his claim that the term ‘Neocon’ was an anti-Semite slur.

‘Why do they keep saying neocon? Because many of the neoconservatives were old time, left-wing, Democrat Jews,’ Levin said on his radio show.

‘Any of the people that use that phrase either don’t know what they’re talking about, but in the magazines and on the internet, they know it. So they’re not going to say the Jews are dragging us into a war, they’ll say Israel is, Netanyahu is. They’re not gonna say the Jews this and the Jews-, so they use neocon.’

Levin added that he would continue to fight the ‘Islamo-Nazi regime in Tehran’ and accused the Iranians of trying to assassinate the president and trying to acquire a nuclear weapon.

‘Do whatever you want, it’s perfectly fine by me. But don’t screw with me, you little bastard, by twisting my words,’ Levin fired back at Carlson. ‘And you should have picked up the phone because I would have cleared things up for you.’

Levin did not return a request for comment from the Daily Mail. 

Fox News has featured a steady drumbeat of coverage of Iran’s nuclear threat, including foreign policy advisors who warn that

On Tuesday morning, Fox News broke an exclusive story about a ‘secret project’ ordered by Iran’s Supreme Leader in 2009 in an effort to boost their nuclear weapons program by extending the range of their long range missiles under the guise of launching satellites.

Trump has been historically hawkish on the issue of Iran, especially after former President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry signed a nuclear deal with them in 2015. 

During his first term, Trump withdrew the United States from the deal in 2018 and launched a maximum pressure campaign against Iran that included the assassination of prominent military officer Qasem Soleimani. 

But the president is now pressing for a deal with Iran, in the hopes of preventing another war in the Middle East. 

The president has told Israeli Prime Minster Bibi Netanyahu that attacking Iran’s nuclear sites is off limits as he prefers a diplomatic solution to the growing tensions between the two countries. 

‘I told him this would be inappropriate to do right now because we´re very close to a solution,’ the president said, recalling to reporters his phone call with Netanyahu. ‘Now, that could change at any moment. It could change with a phone call.’ 

Trump remains optimistic that the Iranians want to reach an agreement that would prevent another war in the Middle East.  

‘[R]ight now, I think they want to make a deal. And, if we can make a deal, (it would) save a lot of lives.’